Show Me You Know Math!

For those of you familiar with Sal Khan over at Khan Academy, you know the power of "screencasting."  Screencasting is basically video footage that includes what you are doing "on the board" with your voice.

I'm "clear as mud" here, so I suggest you take a look at Sal's work at Khan Academy to really get a feel for the power of screencasting.

I use Khan Academy for so much in my classroom:  flipping, concept reinforcement, reteaching, preteaching and enrichment.

With Show Me, a free app, I can harness the power of screencasting and create my own screencasts...simply...easily.  Better yet, my fourth graders can also create their own screencasts.

The Show Me app, available at the App Store, is easy to use, with a minimal amount of bells and whistles.  This makes it easy for the teacher and student alike to create screencasts.

As a teacher, I can create accounts for each of my students to post screencasts.

I'm loving Show Me as a way to have my students share their understanding of math with me.  I send each kiddo out to a quiet space to record their understanding of a math problem while I'm teaching in small group.  I can sit down later in the day and watch/listen to each child's Show Me and evaluate the child's understanding of the concept.

I can also sit down with the student later and have him/her evaluate the work on the screen.  It's amazing what my students catch when they sit down and listen to their own thinking!

Click on the image to view the Show Me on lattice multiplication.

The kids love it...I love it...and parents enjoy seeing their child's work emailed to them versus looking over a report.  

Communication and understanding have never been more interactive...or engaging!

I'd love to hear how you are using Show Me!  

Nikki 

Have You Been Bumped?

Ask my students and they'll say "Yes.  I've been Bumped."  Now...of course being "bumped" isn't a good thing when you've got a hot cup of coffee in your hand or when you are traveling by plane, but if you are bumping using the Bump App, then chances are, you are being quite productive and having a good time too!

The Bump App is a free app that can be used on your mobile devices.  The App Store and Google's Play Store both offer this free app.  It works great on your smart phone and on your iPhone, iPod and iPad.

Here's how it works...when two mobile devices with the Bump App are bumped together they can share photos, files, etc.  You can also bump files from your phone to your computer.  This can be pretty useful in moving photos you take with your phone to your computer.

With Bump, you aren't actually bumping the devices...you are bumping hands that hold the devices.  

Bump is a great way to allow sharing and it is also quite fun.  Students collaborating on a project can simply bump their files over to another student in their group.

A friend takes a terrific photo and simply "bumps" it over to your device.

Bump also has an app for gaming...pretty cool stuff!

My 11-year-old son and I have just started using this to share files between our iPads and are having lots of fun with this.  My students love this too!  I'd love to hear about your bumping experiences!